BILLIONAIRE Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich has confirmed he is selling Chelsea after 19-years of ownership.
Buying the club for £140million in 2003 Abramovich used his riches to turn Chelsea into a winning machine, with no other English club lifting more major trophies than the Blues in the time since he took over.
In an official statement on Wednesday night Abramovich put Chelsea up for sale, citing it was ‘in the best interest’ of all those involved at the club.
He’s hoping to find a buyer by FRIDAY after wiping his staggering £1.5billion Chelsea debt and agreeing to walk away from the club.
It’s the end of an era at Stamford Bridge, which has been a revolving door for both players and managers for the last two decades.
But it’s also a place where on average more than one trophy has been won in every year of the Abramovich reign.
During Abramovich’s 19-year ownership a total of 21 trophies have been lifted by various Chelsea captain’s across the years.
The majority of those were by Blues legend John Terry, who hailed Abramovich as ‘the best owner in the world’ after news of his planned sale was made public.
Terry praised Abramovich for what he has done for the club
Manchester United have won the second-most amount of silverware in the time since Abramovich took over, but it’s still five less trophies than the Blues won in the last 19 years – excluding the Community Shield.
Manchester City are a further one one behind on 13, while Liverpool have won nine and Arsenal six.
In total five league titles were lifted under Abramovich, as well as five FA Cups, three League Cups, the Champions League, Europa League and Community Shield twice, and the Club World Cup and Super Cup once.
The much sought-after Champions League trophy was first won in 2012 and then again just last year, with Abramovich present at both finals in Munich and Porto.
Abramovich was there when Chelsea won the Champions League for the first time in 2012
The Russian oligarch was at the Champions League final in Porto last season to see the Blues lift the trophy for a second time
He was also in Abu Dhabi last month to watch the Blues lift the Club World Cup, the final trophy to be won in his era.
Roman’s Empire oversaw over £2BILLION splashed out on players, with the £97.5m paid for Romelu Lukaku last summer being his most expensive acquisition.
Kai Havertz’s £89m fee is Chelsea’s second-most expensive signing of all time, while the £72m record fee for a goalkeeper spent on Kepa Arrizabalaga rounds off the top three.
The likes of Alvaro Morata (£70m), Christian Pulisic (£58m), Jorginho (£57m) and Fernando Torres (£50m) didn’t come cheap either.
Meanwhile the £47.5m spent on Timo Werner, £45m on Ben Chilwell and £40m on Mateo Kovacic make up the top-10 most expensive Abramovich signings.
And he certainly wasn’t scared to give manager’s the boot if results failed to live up to his hefty expectations.
Abramovich had a ruthless reputation for sacking managers
A whopping 15 appointments in just 19-years is some record, in a list which includes some of the greatest bosses to ever coach the game.
Overall 13 managers were instilled to the dugout as Jose Mourinho and Guus Hiddink were both given a second crack of the whip by Abramovich.
But the likes of Carlo Ancelotti, Antonio Conte and Rafa Benitez all came and went under Abramovich’s orders.
In total Chelsea played 1087 games with Abramovich as owner, winning a whopping 660 of those, and drawing a further 237.
Just 190 games ended in defeat over 19-years at the helm, which averages out at only 10 losses a year in all competitions.
Those 1087 games saw a hefty 2049 goals scored and 957 conceded, with an overall win percentage of 60.7 percent.
But now Abramovich will hand over the reigns, with SunSport exclusively revealing Brit billionaire Jim Ratcliffe as one of three parties interested in becoming new owners of the club.
February’s Club World Cup triumph will be the last trophy won under Abramovich
